INTRODUCTION: Being overweight and obesity are a growing problem and are often related to a lack of physical activity among younger people. This study aims to describe the prevalence of weight disorders in Belgian schoolchildren. Secondly, this study examines the association between physical activity, weight disorders and the interest in food and sciences. METHODS: We examined 525 children aged between 8 and 18 years old, who attended the Brussels Food Fair or the Belgian Science Day in 2013...

Most low-income Americans fail to meet physical activity recommendations. Inactivity and poor diet contribute to obesity, a risk factor for multiple chronic diseases. Health promotion activities have the potential to improve health outcomes for low-income populations. Measuring the effectiveness of these activities, however, can be challenging in community settings. A "Biking for Health" study tested the impact of a bicycling intervention on overweight or obese low-income Latino and African American adults to reduce barriers to cycling and increase physical activity and fitness...

Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) cycling could benefit people with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI). The FES cycling involves large muscle groups during the training, and thus improves the cardiovascular function, increases the muscle bulk and reduces the secondary complications. This study developed an outdoor FES exercise cycling system for complete SCI persons to exercise their lower limbs without putting extra load on upper extremities. The mechanical structure of the cycling system was specially redesigned to secure the SCI persons in the cycling system...

This study examined the effect of 24h of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance and assessed the effect of acute exercise on cognitive performance following sleep deprivation. Young, active, healthy adults (n=24, 14 males) were randomized to control (age=24.7±3.7years, BMI=27.2±7.0) or exercise (age=25.3±3.3years, BMI=25.6±5.1) groups. Cognitive testing included a 5-min psychomotor vigilance task (PVT), three memory tasks with increasing cognitive load, and performance of the PVT a second time. On morning one, cognitive testing followed a typical night's sleep...

Background Early changes in the large muscular arteries are already associated with risk factors as hypertension and obesity in adolescence and young adulthood. The present study examines the association between arterial stiffness measurements, pulse wave velocity and augmentation index and lifestyle-related factors, body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness, in young, healthy, Swedish adults. Design This study used a population-based cross-sectional sample. Methods The 834 participants in the study were self-reported healthy, non-smoking, age 18-25 years...

In the literature there is a lack of data about the development of top level athletes in cross-country mountain biking (XCO). The purpose of this study was to analyze anthropometric and physiological characteristics of some of the best XCO bikers aged between 13 and 16. The study involved 45 bikers (26 males and 19 females) belonging to a youth national team. The evaluations, consisting of anthropometric measures, incremental cycling tests (VO2max, PPO, P@RCP), and 30 s Wingate Tests (PMax, PMean), were conducted over a lapse of 4 years...

Cross-country mountain bike suspension reportedly enhances comfort and performance through reduced vibration and impact exposure. This study analysed the effectiveness of three different front fork systems at damping accelerations during the crossing of three isolated obstacles (stairs, drop, and root). One participant completed three trials on six separate occasions in a randomised order using rigid, air-sprung, and carbon leaf-sprung forks. Performance was determined by time to cross obstacles, while triaxial accelerometers quantified impact exposure and damping response...

Cross-country mountain biking (XCO) is a popular high-intensity cycling endurance event, however, XCO pacing strategy has not been fully examined. This study examined the pacing strategies of different XCO athletes, during a laboratory-simulated XCO performance test. Brazilian cyclists classified as performance cohort level three (PL3-trained) performed an XCO race simulation. The simulation consisted of four 10 km laps with a gradient of 0-10%. No group vs. time interaction was found in lap time (P = 0.169), absolute (P = 0...

Prior research indicates that children construe norms as general and construe preferences as individual. The current studies tested whether this expectation is built into how children interpret and use language. We focused on the pronoun you, which is ambiguous between a canonical interpretation (referring to the addressee) and a generic interpretation (referring to people in general). In Study 1, children (N=132, ages 3-10years) were asked a series of questions containing "you," referring to either descriptive norms (e...

Recent studies have shown that concurrent physical activity enhances learning a completely unfamiliar L2 vocabulary as compared to learning it in a static condition. In this paper we report a study whose aim is twofold: to test for possible positive effects of physical activity when L2 learning has already reached some level of proficiency, and to test whether the assumed better performance when engaged in physical activity is limited to the linguistic level probed at training (i.e. L2 vocabulary tested by means of a Word-Picture Verification task), or whether it extends also to the sentence level (which was tested by means of a Sentence Semantic Judgment Task)...

There is growing interest in using activity workstations as a method of increasing light physical activity in normally sedentary environments. The current study (N = 117) compared the effects of studying in college students while slowly pedaling a stationary bike with a desktop with studying at traditional desks across 10 weeks in an academic semester. The students were assigned to study either on the stationary bike or at a traditional desk located in the campus library for a minimum of 2 h a week. During the 10 weeks, the students studied for tests or worked on other required academic activities while working at their assigned desk...

[Purpose] This study aims to investigate the effects of exercise using an ergometer with swaying saddle on chronic lower back pain. [Subjects and Methods] Thirty-three normal adults (university students) with chronic lower back pain were randomly recruited. The flexibility and strength of muscles were measured before and after an 8-week intervention. Belly-bike, an ergometer with a swaying saddle, was used. The duration of intervention was 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week. To measure the level of pain, visual analogue scale (VAS) and Korean Oswestry Disability Index were used...

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to describe the anthropometric profile of male Olympic cross country (XCO) mountain bikers. METHODS: Fifty one XCO bikers participated in this study, divided into an elite group who competed in top level international competitions, and a non-elite group who competed at a national level. The elite group was further classified according to whether they had been world or Olympic champion mountain bikers (WOC) or not (NWOC). The anthropometric profiles included the measurements of height, weight, arm span, skinfolds, girths, and breadths...

BACKGROUND: The study set out to identify physiological variables that may predict performance in The Cape Epic, an 8-day multi-stage mountain bike (MTB) race held annually in South Africa. METHODS: Twenty four amateur riders underwent VO2max testing within the 8 weeks prior to the event. Blood lactate measurements were taken to determine the power output corresponding to a fixed lactate concentration of 2 (LT2) and 4 mmol.l-1 (OBLA) during the incremental test...

BACKGROUND: The objectives of the present study were to compare time spent cycling, exercise intensity, and time spent in moderate- (MPA) and vigorous intensity physical activity (VPA) when cycling on an E-bike and a conventional bicycle on two "cycling-to-work" routes with differences in topography, defined as a hilly and a flat route. METHODS: Eight adults (23-54 years, two women) cycled outdoors on a conventional bicycle and an E-bike, on a flat (8.2 km) and a hilly (7...

Jacobson, BH, Monaghan, TP, Sellers, JH, Conchola, EC, Pope, ZK, and Glass, RG. Acute effect of biomechanical muscle stimulation on the counter-movement vertical jump power and velocity in division I football players. J Strength Cond Res 31(5): 1259-1264, 2017-Research regarding whole body vibration (WBV) largely supports such training augmentation in attempts to increase muscle strength and power. However, localized biomechanical vibration has not received the same attention. The purpose of this study was to assess peak and average power before and after acute vibration of selected lower-body sites in division I athletes...

This study aimed to cross validate previously developed predictive models of mountain biking performance in a new cohort of mountain bikers during a 4-h event (XC4H). Eight amateur XC4H cyclists completed a multidimensional assessment battery including a power profile assessment that consisted of maximal efforts between 6 and 600 s, maximal hand grip strength assessments, a video-based decision-making test as well as a XC4H race. A multiple linear regression model was found to predict XC4H performance with good accuracy (R(2) = 0...

BACKGROUND: The progression of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and atherosclerosis is slow and develops over decades. In the cross-sectional Swedish Lifestyle, Biomarker, and Atherosclerosis study, 834 young, self-reported healthy adults aged 18.0-25.9 years have been studied to identify early risk factors for atherosclerosis. PURPOSE: The aims of this study were to 1) assess selected cardiometabolic biomarkers, carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) as a marker of subclinical atherosclerosis, and lifestyle-related indicators (food habits, handgrip strength, and oxygen uptake, VO2 max); 2) analyze the associations between cIMT and lifestyle factors; and 3) identify subjects at risk of CVD using a risk score and to compare the characteristics of subjects with and without risk of CVD...